It's Me Lord

The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.

Jeremiah 31:3

Apart from my entire life changing drastically after the sudden loss of my husband, it signaled the beginning of questions about my relationship with God and most importantly His love for me. Many times in the early days and weeks i heard myself telling God 'it's me Lord,Halima remember the one you love so much, the same Halima and Tunbosun that you engraved in the palm of your hands'. I would go on trying to remind God that He loved me (as if He had forgotten). I believed He loved my family and i too much to allow us suffer in anyway. How could a God who said he loved me so much take my husband so early. Somehow the tragedy of my husband's sudden death and a loving God didn't mix. We loved God and served Him and I felt His part of the deal was to keep us safe and bless us that included the blessing of long life. So why did He deny my husband the privilege of living long....and then my thoughts would inadvertently return to 'it's me Lord' you love, me remember, such thoughts constantly reverberated in my mind. 

My Provincial  Pastor was sitting with me one of the days and I blurted out 'maybe it's because I didn't pray enough' I had been whipping my self up trying to figure out why God took my husband. The many people that came and said things like 'agh the devil did it, didn't you get a hunch in your Spirit, God must have spoken to  but....., you have to be prayerful' etc did not help matters (amazing what people say to you when you loose a loved one) People haven't changed much since the days of Job and his friends who kept telling him he must have sinned or failed in some way or the other and was receiving the punishment he deserved from the righteous God. I remember telling God at a point that it wasn't their fault but His after all if He didn't take my husband every Tom, Dick, and Harriet (Harry) wouldn't come into my home and judge me or  analyze a situation they really didnt know anything about. Anyway back to what i was saying  I had worked up my self to a point where I believed if I had missed it somehow and maybe God's love had been replaced by His anger prayed.You see the thing was i was putting finishing touches to my Masters degree thesis while preparing for a film festival at work for which i was the Festival Director plus the regular routine of being  wife,mother, pastor's wife and children church teacher. I often had to work late into the night and be up early to a busy schedule and my prayer time became less.  Somewhere in my mind was the thought that God was not happy with me for not spending as much time as I should with him and so He withdrew His love and didn't bother to watch over us as He usually did. Thankfully my pastor's response was that God wasn't like that and he asked if as a mother i would punish my children by killing them if they offended or hurt me? The truth is I wouldn't even think of it so why would I think God who loved me more than i love my children do that. Though i knew God's nature to be love  my grieving heart was questioning this love.

I was invited to speak at a Church on 'What can separate us from the love of God' the text was from Romans8:35-39. The pastor said  he liked the way I carried on after my husbands death and kept serving and loving God. I on the other hand know it was quite a task because I had questioned God's love, wondered if being a Christian was worth it and wondered if death would separate me from that love. Looking at the Romans passage it struck me that the feeling being separated from God's love is two pronged first one can wrongly assume a decline or a withdrawal of God's love? Secondly, allowing the challenges and unpleasant situations of life get us to a place where we withdraw from him therefore attempting to separate our selves from His love? Thankfully in both cases God's love remains steadfast.

I turned on the TV on Saturday evening and tuned in to the Daystar channel movie of the week. A man who from the little I saw of the movie was either an Angel or the Lord himself took a woman who seemed to be having  a hard time accepting the fact that God loved her unconditionally to a beach by an ocean and asked her if she had ever went swimming in the ocean she answered in the affirmative then he asked if she remembered the wetness of the ocean or if she could measure its wetness she looked at him and said but the ocean is by nature wet in other words you can't separate the ocean from wetness. In my words to experience the ocean is to experience wetness. He then told her that's how God and love is. He is not just loving but love it's self. He then took her to a house with a baby in a cot it seems it was her daughter (when she was a baby) her heart went out to the baby and she wanted to carry her impulsively, he encouraged her to go ahead and then described God's love as being like the love she had for the little helpless baby who at the time of her birth could only eat,sleep and poop. That child didn't need to do anything she was loved just as she was. Imagine this baby didn't even have the capacity to love at the time but it didn't reduce the parents love. In the same manner we are loved because we are God's children and  being loved is part of the rights and privileges of sonship.

I was so blessed and reminded of God's unequivocal love for me. I asked them in the church I ministered how many of them did anything to earn God's love of course none of them so I asked what they could do to 'unearn'  God's love if there is a word like that. I am aware that sin has consequences and we sometimes have to live with the consequences of bad decisions, sin, failure etc but at no time does God's love for us cease. God remains righteous and hates sin but he loves us unconditionally the Bible says while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. We didn't do anything to make him love us neither do we deserve it. Look at it this way before we were born Christ had died for us and loved us in advance. Nothing we do or go through can seperate us from God's love. God can rebuke us, chasten us but He never stops loving us instead His heart breaks when we sin or fall.  He keeps reaching out to us in love. The fact that your husband died doesn't mean God doesn't love you instead let God's love lift you don't believe the lies the devil tells you that the challenges , sorrow,lack or even death has the capacity to seperate you from God's love because it doesn't when all fails cling to His love it's more than enough.

If anything I believe God's love for us is at its highest when we go through pain ,loss or suffering. If like me you have struggled with God's love because of grief know it 'that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord'!

It's Me Lord

The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.

Jeremiah 31:3

Apart from my entire life changing drastically after the sudden loss of my husband, it signaled the beginning of questions about my relationship with God and most importantly His love for me. Many times in the early days and weeks i heard myself telling God 'it's me Lord,Halima remember the one you love so much, the same Halima and Tunbosun that you engraved in the palm of your hands'. I would go on trying to remind God that He loved me (as if He had forgotten). I believed He loved my family and i too much to allow us suffer in anyway. How could a God who said he loved me so much take my husband so early. Somehow the tragedy of my husband's sudden death and a loving God didn't mix. We loved God and served Him and I felt His part of the deal was to keep us safe and bless us that included the blessing of long life. So why did He deny my husband the privilege of living long....and then my thoughts would inadvertently return to 'it's me Lord' you love, me remember, such thoughts constantly reverberated in my mind. 

My Provincial  Pastor was sitting with me one of the days and I blurted out 'maybe it's because I didn't pray enough' I had been whipping my self up trying to figure out why God took my husband. The many people that came and said things like 'agh the devil did it, didn't you get a hunch in your Spirit, God must have spoken to  but....., you have to be prayerful' etc did not help matters (amazing what people say to you when you loose a loved one) People haven't changed much since the days of Job and his friends who kept telling him he must have sinned or failed in some way or the other and was receiving the punishment he deserved from the righteous God. I remember telling God at a point that it wasn't their fault but His after all if He didn't take my husband every Tom, Dick, and Harriet (Harry) wouldn't come into my home and judge me or  analyze a situation they really didnt know anything about. Anyway back to what i was saying  I had worked up my self to a point where I believed if I had missed it somehow and maybe God's love had been replaced by His anger prayed.You see the thing was i was putting finishing touches to my Masters degree thesis while preparing for a film festival at work for which i was the Festival Director plus the regular routine of being  wife,mother, pastor's wife and children church teacher. I often had to work late into the night and be up early to a busy schedule and my prayer time became less.  Somewhere in my mind was the thought that God was not happy with me for not spending as much time as I should with him and so He withdrew His love and didn't bother to watch over us as He usually did. Thankfully my pastor's response was that God wasn't like that and he asked if as a mother i would punish my children by killing them if they offended or hurt me? The truth is I wouldn't even think of it so why would I think God who loved me more than i love my children do that. Though i knew God's nature to be love  my grieving heart was questioning this love.

I was invited to speak at a Church on 'What can separate us from the love of God' the text was from Romans8:35-39. The pastor said  he liked the way I carried on after my husbands death and kept serving and loving God. I on the other hand know it was quite a task because I had questioned God's love, wondered if being a Christian was worth it and wondered if death would separate me from that love. Looking at the Romans passage it struck me that the feeling being separated from God's love is two pronged first one can wrongly assume a decline or a withdrawal of God's love? Secondly, allowing the challenges and unpleasant situations of life get us to a place where we withdraw from him therefore attempting to separate our selves from His love? Thankfully in both cases God's love remains steadfast.

I turned on the TV on Saturday evening and tuned in to the Daystar channel movie of the week. A man who from the little I saw of the movie was either an Angel or the Lord himself took a woman who seemed to be having  a hard time accepting the fact that God loved her unconditionally to a beach by an ocean and asked her if she had ever went swimming in the ocean she answered in the affirmative then he asked if she remembered the wetness of the ocean or if she could measure its wetness she looked at him and said but the ocean is by nature wet in other words you can't separate the ocean from wetness. In my words to experience the ocean is to experience wetness. He then told her that's how God and love is. He is not just loving but love it's self. He then took her to a house with a baby in a cot it seems it was her daughter (when she was a baby) her heart went out to the baby and she wanted to carry her impulsively, he encouraged her to go ahead and then described God's love as being like the love she had for the little helpless baby who at the time of her birth could only eat,sleep and poop. That child didn't need to do anything she was loved just as she was. Imagine this baby didn't even have the capacity to love at the time but it didn't reduce the parents love. In the same manner we are loved because we are God's children and  being loved is part of the rights and privileges of sonship.

I was so blessed and reminded of God's unequivocal love for me. I asked them in the church I ministered how many of them did anything to earn God's love of course none of them so I asked what they could do to 'unearn'  God's love if there is a word like that. I am aware that sin has consequences and we sometimes have to live with the consequences of bad decisions, sin, failure etc but at no time does God's love for us cease. God remains righteous and hates sin but he loves us unconditionally the Bible says while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. We didn't do anything to make him love us neither do we deserve it. Look at it this way before we were born Christ had died for us and loved us in advance. Nothing we do or go through can seperate us from God's love. God can rebuke us, chasten us but He never stops loving us instead His heart breaks when we sin or fall.  He keeps reaching out to us in love. The fact that your husband died doesn't mean God doesn't love you instead let God's love lift you don't believe the lies the devil tells you that the challenges , sorrow,lack or even death has the capacity to seperate you from God's love because it doesn't when all fails cling to His love it's more than enough.

If anything I believe God's love for us is at its highest when we go through pain ,loss or suffering. If like me you have struggled with God's love because of grief know it 'that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord'!

It's Me Lord

The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.

Jeremiah 31:3

Apart from my entire life changing drastically after the sudden loss of my husband, it signaled the beginning of questions about my relationship with God and most importantly His love for me. Many times in the early days and weeks i heard myself telling God 'it's me Lord,Halima remember the one you love so much, the same Halima and Tunbosun that you engraved in the palm of your hands'. I would go on trying to remind God that He loved me (as if He had forgotten). I believed He loved my family and i too much to allow us suffer in anyway. How could a God who said he loved me so much take my husband so early. Somehow the tragedy of my husband's sudden death and a loving God didn't mix. We loved God and served Him and I felt His part of the deal was to keep us safe and bless us that included the blessing of long life. So why did He deny my husband the privilege of living long....and then my thoughts would inadvertently return to 'it's me Lord' you love, me remember, such thoughts constantly reverberated in my mind. 

My Provincial  Pastor was sitting with me one of the days and I blurted out 'maybe it's because I didn't pray enough' I had been whipping my self up trying to figure out why God took my husband. The many people that came and said things like 'agh the devil did it, didn't you get a hunch in your Spirit, God must have spoken to  but....., you have to be prayerful' etc did not help matters (amazing what people say to you when you loose a loved one) People haven't changed much since the days of Job and his friends who kept telling him he must have sinned or failed in some way or the other and was receiving the punishment he deserved from the righteous God. I remember telling God at a point that it wasn't their fault but His after all if He didn't take my husband every Tom, Dick, and Harriet (Harry) wouldn't come into my home and judge me or  analyze a situation they really didnt know anything about. Anyway back to what i was saying  I had worked up my self to a point where I believed if I had missed it somehow and maybe God's love had been replaced by His anger prayed.You see the thing was i was putting finishing touches to my Masters degree thesis while preparing for a film festival at work for which i was the Festival Director plus the regular routine of being  wife,mother, pastor's wife and children church teacher. I often had to work late into the night and be up early to a busy schedule and my prayer time became less.  Somewhere in my mind was the thought that God was not happy with me for not spending as much time as I should with him and so He withdrew His love and didn't bother to watch over us as He usually did. Thankfully my pastor's response was that God wasn't like that and he asked if as a mother i would punish my children by killing them if they offended or hurt me? The truth is I wouldn't even think of it so why would I think God who loved me more than i love my children do that. Though i knew God's nature to be love  my grieving heart was questioning this love.

I was invited to speak at a Church on 'What can separate us from the love of God' the text was from Romans8:35-39. The pastor said  he liked the way I carried on after my husbands death and kept serving and loving God. I on the other hand know it was quite a task because I had questioned God's love, wondered if being a Christian was worth it and wondered if death would separate me from that love. Looking at the Romans passage it struck me that the feeling being separated from God's love is two pronged first one can wrongly assume a decline or a withdrawal of God's love? Secondly, allowing the challenges and unpleasant situations of life get us to a place where we withdraw from him therefore attempting to separate our selves from His love? Thankfully in both cases God's love remains steadfast.

I turned on the TV on Saturday evening and tuned in to the Daystar channel movie of the week. A man who from the little I saw of the movie was either an Angel or the Lord himself took a woman who seemed to be having  a hard time accepting the fact that God loved her unconditionally to a beach by an ocean and asked her if she had ever went swimming in the ocean she answered in the affirmative then he asked if she remembered the wetness of the ocean or if she could measure its wetness she looked at him and said but the ocean is by nature wet in other words you can't separate the ocean from wetness. In my words to experience the ocean is to experience wetness. He then told her that's how God and love is. He is not just loving but love it's self. He then took her to a house with a baby in a cot it seems it was her daughter (when she was a baby) her heart went out to the baby and she wanted to carry her impulsively, he encouraged her to go ahead and then described God's love as being like the love she had for the little helpless baby who at the time of her birth could only eat,sleep and poop. That child didn't need to do anything she was loved just as she was. Imagine this baby didn't even have the capacity to love at the time but it didn't reduce the parents love. In the same manner we are loved because we are God's children and  being loved is part of the rights and privileges of sonship.

I was so blessed and reminded of God's unequivocal love for me. I asked them in the church I ministered how many of them did anything to earn God's love of course none of them so I asked what they could do to 'unearn'  God's love if there is a word like that. I am aware that sin has consequences and we sometimes have to live with the consequences of bad decisions, sin, failure etc but at no time does God's love for us cease. God remains righteous and hates sin but he loves us unconditionally the Bible says while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. We didn't do anything to make him love us neither do we deserve it. Look at it this way before we were born Christ had died for us and loved us in advance. Nothing we do or go through can seperate us from God's love. God can rebuke us, chasten us but He never stops loving us instead His heart breaks when we sin or fall.  He keeps reaching out to us in love. The fact that your husband died doesn't mean God doesn't love you instead let God's love lift you don't believe the lies the devil tells you that the challenges , sorrow,lack or even death has the capacity to seperate you from God's love because it doesn't when all fails cling to His love it's more than enough.

If anything I believe God's love for us is at its highest when we go through pain ,loss or suffering. If like me you have struggled with God's love because of grief know it 'that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord'!

Reversing the Ireversible

9 On the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar, the edict commanded by the king was to be carried out. On this day the enemies of the Jews had hoped to overpower them, but now the tables were turned and the Jews got the upper hand over those who hated them. 2 The Jews assembled in their cities in all the provinces of King Xerxes to attack those determined to destroy them. No one could stand against them, because the people of all the other nationalities were afraid of them. 3 And all the nobles of the provinces, the satraps, the governors and the king’s administrators helped the Jews, because fear of Mordecai had seized them. 4 Mordecai was prominent in the palace; his reputation spread throughout the provinces, and he became more and more powerful.

Esther 9:1-4 NIV

Last week in writing on the Topic 'Fear Not' i shared a part of the story of Esther, Mordecai, the Jews and their mortal enemy  Haman.  I have been so encouraged reading from the book of Esther in the last couple of days. One thing stands out in all the intricacies of the happenings as the story unfolds is the fact that God is a God of unlimited possibilities. What appeared like a dead end,an impossibility became possible when God's people cried out to Him for help. Just as Haman went all out to destroy Mordecai and the Jews we have people today that go all out to perpetrate all kinds of injustice against others especially to those perceived to be week and vulnerable like widows. In your case it may not be injustice but a financial need or health challenge, issues with your children or any other difficulty that seems insurmountable or unchangeable.

One would think people would ordinarily have a soft spot for widows, the fatherless, orphans, the poor, needy,desolate etc but unfortunately some people go to such lengths to afflict them, frustrate them and deny them  of what is rightfully theirs.  More often than not these people like the Jews in the book of Esther don't do anything to deserve what they get. Someone just thinks they don't deserve to be happy, joyful,blessed or even deserve to be alive.  In the fifth chapter of Esther Haman recounts to his wife and friends his many blessings including the glory of his riches, his many children and how the king had promoted him above other princes but he said it was nothing to him so long as he saw Mordecai sitting at the king's gate. Mordecai didnt have anything near what Haman had so i I would have thought Mordecai would have been the one to harbor ill feelings toward  Haman out of envy. I read somewhere that Haman's robes had embroidered gods and their symbols on them so when a person bowed to him they were indirectly bowing to those gods i guess that explains Mordecai's refusal to bow. It's the same with us because many times the opposition we face is a battle between whose we are and what we stand for against the forces that control others. 

After Haman built gallows to hang Mordecai King Ahasareus couldn't sleep... ( (Please read the book of Esther) one thing led to another and Haman found himself leading Mordecai round town on the King's horse, wearing the king's robe and saying this is what is done to the person the king wants to Honour. At this point Haman should have let Mordecai  be even his wife told him that if God was with Mordecai he  wouldn't be able to overcome him. But as it is with those obsessed by hatred Haman did not relent. Eventually Haman hanged on the gallows he prepared for Mordecai, Esther was given his estate, Mordecai became prime minister and the Jews were saved.  The irreversible/impossible situation changed , God is more than able and willing to fight your battles. You may be facing giants, powerful people that ordinarily you won't stand a chance against but God says peace be still the battle belongs to Him and he has never failed.

Deut 10:18 says God ensures the orphan and widows receive justice this verse and the story of Esther has been of tremendous encouragement to me and I hope you will be encouraged too. Those who wanted to destroy the Jews became afraid of them. If you can experiencing injustice or huge challenges and feel led to get help from legal or other instituitions it's okay because God can use them but remember that ultimately God is the one that will ensure you get justice. He won't allow the wicked to prevail over you.  The tables are about to be turned in your favour and you will have an upper hand. Evil people will not be able to stand against you instead people will go out of their way to help you. 

Fear Not

So do not fear, I am with you; do not be dismayed,for  I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

For I am the Lord your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.

Isaiah 41: 10 & 13

Fear is described by some as 'False Evidence Appearing Real'. In many instances this definition of fear can said to be true. I remember reading a book years back in which the author said many of the things we fear will happen to us or our loved ones usually don't happen.  So we shouldn't spend our lives bound by fear and controlled by what if this or that goes wrong. It makes a whole lot of sense.  However I believe there are situations and circumstances we find our selves in that genuinely elicit fear. 

I believe for many widows fear is real and comes about in different ways.  Some of the fears I have experienced as a widow include I and my children's financial security, how do I get them through school, what will happen to the children if i die, I am afraid when any of them have to travel (lost my husband in an accident) ,I wonder what will happen to me when they all leave home, fear of being alone.Then the issue of terrorism,insurgency and the Nigerian 2015 elections. We have prayed,prayed and prayed. Churches and Christians all over have prayed but even this weekend there were bomb blasts. The tension is palpable among the polity and the situation in Nigeria suggests it will take a miracle not to have post election violence. That miracle is what we are believing for but then many times fear creeps in. What if God doesn't intervene like someone told me don't bother to pray God is tired of Nigeria. I know He'll never get tired but what if violence erupts or even a full fledged war what do I do -a single mother with four children where do I run to, I am from the North my husband was from the South West. Considering the North/South, Christian/ Muslim and ethnic differences in Nigeria I wonder where to run to when everyone is running. I am sure others can identify with some of my fears and add a list of theirs.

A few days back I read through the book of Esther in the Bible and was thrilled at how God works. Haman hated Mordecai simply because the man wouldn't bow down to him and so he decides to eliminate him and his entire race. He got the King to permit the destruction of all the Jews in 127 provinces! Only because Haman didn't bow before him and reverence him. My goodness! It's hard to believe how some people's minds work isn't it.  Understandably Nehemiah was alarmed and so were the jews they went into wailing and mourning because a decree sealed by the king's ring was irreversible.  Death was imminent and certain. Your guess is as good as mine..fear gripped the Jews. Knowing that one is going to die is bad enough but knowing the exact day and the fact that you and your entire family including children would be hacked to death will certainly engender fear. There was no way out and no where to run to... talk of being between the devil and the deep blue sea.

Well God was aware of Haman's evil intentions long before he finished scheming,  God raised a young orphan Esther. I believe Vasti's refusing to respond to the king's call was all part of God's master plan. She was dethroned and Esther was selected along with other young virgins from whom the king would choose a Queen. From the day she stepped into the palace God caused her to find favor before Hegai the keeper of the women the Bible says she pleased him and obtained kindness from him. Of course he knew what the king liked and so he prepared Esther for the one night with the king that would change her destiny and that of the Jewish people. She took only what Hegai gave her and I guess she did only what he told her. Everyone that saw her that night liked what they saw as for King Xerxes it was love at first sight. My Bible said the king loved her more than all the virgins and she obtained grace and favor in his eyes. Don't forget it's all part of God's master plan for this orphan and the Jewish people.

God specializes in taking what is meant for evil and turning it to good. I don't know what you are going through or the circumstances that you are faced with that fill you with fear. You wonder how will you get through this or what will your tomorrow be like. May I announce to you that God is at work on your behalf touching hearts, orchestrating change and countering evil. That same God that delivered the Jews, the same one that took an orphan and made her the wife of the most powerful man on earth and Queen in a foreign land is working on your behalf.  You will not be consumed and you will not be put to shame. Just like the story of Esther ended in a miraculous deliverance a 'happily ever after'  victory, joy and celebration so also will your story end.

Beloved of the Lord I say unto you FEAR NOT God is with you do not be dismayed He will help you.  Let your focus not be on the challenge but on God He is bigger. Commit all to him and trust Him knowing He loves you unconditionally and He's got your back.

The Secret Place

He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the most High.

I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress,  my God; in Him will I trust.

Psalm 91:1-2

Remember when you met your husband how you just cherished every moment together as time went by you learnt to know and understand each other because you spent time together. I remember the unending conversations I had with my hubby on every topic imaginable and the times when just being together was enough we didn't need to say anything.Then suddenly, he was gone. Finding the strength and will to carry on with life after loss is certainly not easy.  I can't begin to describe the hopelessness I experienced every morning after losing my dear husband. There was nothing to look forward to just a huge weight that threatened to incapacitate me. I longed so much for Jesus to come back and take us home. Life without my hubby was to say the least unattractive.

At a point i was stripped of all emotion, numb and unable to pray or read my Bible.  However, I had to come to terms with reality my husband was gone and I was still here. I knew for sure I didn't want to go on like that and couldn't even go on with the weight of pain and hopelessness I was carrying. But was there help anywhere? Could I find hope and a reason to go on? Would life ever be good, joyful and purposeful again? Gradually, I began to pray again and read my Bible. Then I discovered that there is place of power, inner strength, hope and  joy a place where my spirit connects with God and everything else fades. A place where the weight is lifted.  A place where i am equipped to face the future, it is called the secret place and it's simply the presence of God.

God created man for fellowship, unfortunately many Christians fail to realize the depth of fellowship God is calling us to. Psalm 91:1 says 'He that dwells' in other words the secret place is not a place we visit and depart from but we remain His presence  becomes our dwelling place where we lay it all before Him and trust Him. We often forget that He is a person and wants so much to have a close fellowship with us. Like every relationship it takes times to cultivate the presence of God but unlike any other relationship we can take the Holy Spirit with us anywhere and He is with us all the time. 

Just like we enjoyed and cherished our spouse's company God is inviting us to share deep fellowship with Him. For my husband and I our bedroom was one place we could share secrets, pray, play, laugh, cry, quarrel & make up, be naked without being ashamed -it was our secret place, our own space. Well God wants our relationship with Him to be like that, regular, consistent and open. He invites us to make His presence our dwelling place and invites us to abide under His shadow. He becomes our refuge and fortress from the storms of grief.

When we delight in coming into His presence daily as we spend time in studying His word, praying,  listening and waiting for Him , hopelessness changes to hope,sorrow gives way to joy, He takes our weakness and brokenness and gives us strength. We understand that His plans and thoughts toward us are for good, He becomes so real, His joy fills us and radiates around us. Life has meaning again and we know in our hearts of hearts that we will make it and all our tomorrows will be okay.

At first it might seem like an up hill task but we need to work at it. Be committed and learn to pray without ceasing. Talk to Him as you do your chores around the house, or drive somewhere, talk to Him while waiting for an  appointment you can speak to Him at all times. Have the consciousness that God is with you always don't be to formal just be you. He is waiting for you.